She probably should have spoken to Giles about how to kill giant insects, before actually doing it. The scream from the house had put the Slayer in her on auto pilot though, and she was grateful for it. There was one moment of fear as they walked down the stairs. But all she had to do was glance backwards, and a wink made her remember that she wasn’t alone.
Then she saw the six-foot tall praying mantis leaning over Xander and rushed to the rescue. It was a stupid move, really. And she realized it the same second she kicked the bug away from her friend. She didn’t have any weapon on her except the stake. Giles had apparently noticed that too, because when she threw a quick glance over her shoulder he was rummaging through his bag. The tape with bat sonar, that would make the bug go crazy, was not on.
“Giles!” she shouted, just as she ducked to avoid a serrated claw. “The tape!”
“Give me a bloody second!” The Watcher yelled back.
She heard Spike curse, then demand that the man gave the bag to him. Xander was somewhere to the right, talking to the other inmate.
“Bloody hell!” The vampire again. “Gimme that!”
Giles objected while Buffy dodged a blow that could have taken her left arm. She needed a weapon. Now. The bug was aiming at her again and she barely managed to block.
“Soddin’... insect control. You expect insect control to work on a giant cricket?!”
Buffy almost giggled, the vampire sounded so irritated and Giles immediately began to bluster his defence. The moment of distraction was all the bug needed to make her bleed. Suddenly there was a long cut down her arm, sliced right through her shirt.
Then the tape was on and a voice sounded through the air; “Slayer, catch!”
A machete. Buffy looked up at the ex-teacher and grinned.
The Slayer chopped the bug lady into pieces, practically, but she was bleeding; the aroma of Slayer blood reached Spike’s nose and he inhaled deeply. It couldn’t be anything serious though, because the scent wasn’t strong.
Now she was walking towards the two boys who had been captured.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” The darker-haired of the two said “Great timing you had there, Buff.”
The girl didn’t say anything, but turned around to look at Spike and the Watcher. She seemed hesitant and at first he couldn’t figure out why. She’d killed the demon; done her work and saved the innocent human population.
“You did.... very well, Buffy,” the Watcher said.
All hesitation disappeared and she even smiled a little. So she’d only been looking for the old Watcher’s approval then. The man in question seemed to notice that too.
“Actually, you did better than I had expected,” he said “Have you been training without me?”
She glanced at Spike for a brief moment, then shrugged. “Nah, you know, just some running and rope jumping.”
“Very well. I’m happy all of us came out of this... relatively unscathed.”
For a second, Spike swore he could see something glittering in the Slayer’s eyes, then she began walking towards the stairs in apparent nonchalance. In passing, she threw a look over her shoulder.
“Yeah,” she said. “But it’s gross how she only wanted virgins.”
The boys’ expressions were hilarious. One was opening and closing his mouth and the other pressing his lips tightly together. The girl had a hand over her own mouth, but Spike could still hear the tiny giggles that she tried to stifle.
“I-if anyone says anything... my d-dad, he’ll sue you!” stuttered the one who had been opening and closing his mouth.
The girl rolled her eyes and the other boy got an even more closed off expression on his face. Then he took the machete from her, before walking over to the clusters of eggs that were hanging from the ceiling.
When they began to leave the house a couple of minutes later, the Watcher went up beside Spike. He eyed him before clearing his throat. Loudly. It made Spike sigh inwardly. This ‘Giles’ seemed like such a typical... Watcher. All upper-class English with his high thoughts about fighting evil in the world.
“So, who are you?” the Watcher asked.
Spike snorted. “Nice to meet you, too.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he grinned a little. “It’s Giles, Rupert Giles.”
Spike felt a smirk tickle the corner of his mouth. Rupert was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Name’s Spike, mate.”
“I see.” There was a frown on the man’s face as he let his gaze travel over Spike’s form, as if he was pondering over something.
The girl caught up with them that second, just as they were about to leave the house. She appeared nervous and immediately Spike understood why. The way she kept looking at Giles and, not so subtly, tried to inch her way in between them. It was completely clear. She was afraid that the Watcher would find out that Spike was a vampire. He himself wasn’t that worried though, if the man hadn’t noticed anything yet he probably wouldn’t see it at all. Unless someone began prancing around and splattering holy water.
They had made their way to the door when Spike noticed that the other two was still talking. In fact, Giles had put a comforting hand on the Slayer’s shoulder and she had stiffened.
“Really? Is he dead?” she asked.
“Yes. He was found in a freezer during lunch today,” Giles drew in a deep breath, “By miss Cordelia Chase.”
“Cordelia... oh god.”
Spike pushed his hands into his pockets. Maybe he should just walk away. The monster was killed after all, and the humans seemed to be doing their little bonding thing. They were all out on the front lawn now. One of the boys had already gone and the other was checking out the Slayer’s ass when he thought she wasn’t watching.
“How come I didn’t know?” the girl said.
“Actually, you were with me in the library at the time he was found, when...”
There was a demon coming towards them. An ugly looking one on top of it. Its skin was dark green and its fingers made Spike associate with giant needles. One of its two legs appeared to be shorter than the other and it was limping, with both arms hanging along its sides.
“Eh, Slayer...” Spike said.
“Huh?” She was still standing beside the Watcher, it was obvious that Spike was interrupting their conversation.
“Demon straight ahead.”
At that she spun around, then rolled her eyes muttering something about ‘already done her slaying for the day’, before she began rummaging through the bag Giles was carrying. Spike watched as the demon fixed its eyes upon her and then growled, its body tensing; preparing to attack.
“Slayer, look out!” He shouted, taking a step forward.
The demons head turned sharply at the sound. Spike met its cold, black eyes and saw them narrow.
Bugger.
Next second it leaped upon him. It was stronger than it looked, and threw Spike to the ground almost effortlessly. He barely managed to roll aside and avoid the fist that was coming for his head. Growling back at it, he let his eyes flash yellow.
Then the Slayer was there and with a kick in its gut she forced the demon backwards. She followed it without even glancing at him, practically growling three low voiced words;
“No vamping out.”
Right. Rupert. Spike jumped to his feet and threw a quick look over his shoulder. Neither the man nor the boy seemed interested to join the fight. Good, humans were just so damn breakable.
A small gasp had him focusing on the Slayer again. The demon was twisting her wrist; forcing her to drop the machete she was holding. At least he heard no bone snapping.
Spike lunged forward again. An upper cut made the demons head flew backwards. It stumbled and fell almost over, giving the Slayer enough time to compose herself. When she lifted her head she was panting slightly. The look in her eyes made Spike think he should step out on the sidelines too. The fire that burned in her gaze left no room for the girl in her; this moment she was pure Slayer.
Bending down, Spike picked up the weapon the Slayer had dropped. Absently playing with it, he watched her moving as if she had never done another thing. There was a grace over her that hadn’t been there before. Something that reminded him of freedom. All the demon could do was try to block, as she went for it again and again. When she moved like she did now, there was no doubt that she was born a predator.
The demon blocked her fist with one arm and raised its other hand. Next moment the girl received a solid slap in the face. A slap. The demon had actually swatted her with its pointy fingers and the smell of Slayer blood rose in the air for the second time.
“Only girls slap!” the Slayer said, the surprise evident in her voice.
A low laugh vibrated through Spike’s chest. She was absolutely right; decent demons simply didn’t slap their enemies. This fight should end pretty soon.
The Slayer elbowed the demon, and Spike tried the edge of the blade with his thumb. A drop of blood came forward and he brought the finger to his mouth. He thought about throwing the machete to her, but figured there was no need.
The second that thought entered his mind, the demon struck. It head-butted the girl, then a green foot kicked the edge of her knee. She fell to the ground. Rolling to the side she tried to rise, only to stumble and sink to her knees again.
No.
Spike rushed, the hand with the machete raised. He aimed for the heart, but the demon swung around and the blade cut into its shoulder instead. Howling in pain, it launched itself against him. They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs and Spike lost the machete. The demon landed on top, one of its hands gripping Spike’s throat. Its skin felt strange, as if there were crusted lumps over it’s whole body. Spike didn’t remember feeling anything like it before. The bumps were hard, as if they were made of stone. How in hell had the blade been able to slash through it?
The weapon was lying a half metre away from him. Spike tried to reach for it. The hand around his throat tightened and he got a slap over the cheek. There was no blood though and that seemed to anger the demon. A loud growl came over its lips and it aimed for him again.
The move left the cut open. Something green was streaming out of it; blood he supposed. The fluid stank in any case. Spike inwardly sighed. Sodding hell... Then he pushed four fingers into the wound, making sure his nails dug into the flesh before forcing them deeper. The shriek the demon the let forth made it ring in Spike’s ears.
Then the weight over his body was gone.
“Come on,” the Slayer said, “I really wanna go home.”
Spike smirked. The demon was clearly weakened, probably mostly by the blood loss from the wound, which was still bleeding heavily. It made him wonder if this kind of demon might have some problems with coagulation and the trick was to make them bleed to death.
Nodding to the girl, they began to circle it. She smirked and her eyes glittered.
They danced well together, he and this Slayer, even though this wasn’t as fun as when they had sparred. Without need for words, they began to circle it. A glint of fear was clear in the demon’s eyes as it looked back and forth between them and Spike’s smirk grew wider.
The problem was, that both he and the girl struck at the same time. And the demon managed to move faster than he’d believed possible. So instead of hitting the demon, they smashed into each other.
“Ew, Spike! You got slime in my face!” the girl wailed.
His ears were suffering. Spike groaned, rubbing his shoulder as he looked up at the Slayer. She did have that weird blood in her face. Wait. She didn’t. He frowned and took a step closer to her, his left hand going to her cheek. The hand that a second ago had been covered in slime.
“Something’s wrong,” the Slayer murmured. “Your hand... my head.. everything....”
She stumbled a little and Spike reached forward to steady her. A finger brushed her shoulder, but no more than that. All strength suddenly left his arm and it fell dead against his side. The world was becoming blurry.
“Watcher!” he called. “Something’s not...”
The girl passed out. Spike frowned, falling to his knees. Where was the demon? He lifted his eyes to search for it, but the world was spinning around him. Faster and faster. Strange. Oh, he knew where this was leading. This would go faster and faster until... blackness.
Everything was a flurry of colours. Buffy blinked in an attempt to make the world still, but it refused to so she closed her eyes again.
“What do you think happened?” someone asked, the voice was vaguely familiar.
“I have actually no idea,” another person said “I have never seen such a demon before, I have to question my books. Especially if Buffy and this... Spike... don’t wake up soon.”
“Yeah. Did... did you see that guy fight? He must be working out like hell.”
“Indeed. Something about him is familiar... maybe I...”
She didn’t hear the end of the sentence. The darkness was trying to swallow her again and she willingly let it.
Spike woke up by something dragging him by the arms.
“Man, this is one heavy dude!”
The voice was scarily close to his ear.
“Bloody hell, Xander! Just get him inside.”
His body bumped into something. Then again. This really wasn’t good for his headache. Groaning, Spike at last opened his eyes. Just as the two men tried to get him inside the house again. His forehead hit the barrier again. The very solid barrier.
“Aow!” he said, trying to shake the humans off him. “Get off me!”
There was no need though. Next moment the hands on him were gone and he almost collapsed. Stumbling, he barely managed to keep his balance. Looking up as he finally could stand straight, he saw the two humans staring at him. The boy stood with his mouth gaping open, while the man had found a cross in his pocket and was holding it up. Spike nearly laughed at the picture they made.
“Get out of here,” Giles said. “I don’t know what you have done to get my Slayer to trust you, but you will have no more contact with her, William the Bloody.”
He said the name with such abhorrence that Spike nearly flinched. Then he met the man’s eyes.
“What do you think the Slayer will say about that?” He smirked. “After all, I was the one who got her away from Angelus. Who got her back in the field.”
“What do you mean?”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “Just that your innocent little Slayer, made a promise to me.”
So that wasn’t entirely true. The girl had, after all, not exactly sworn to help him. The words had the desired effect though; the Watcher’s eyes widened comically – for about half a second. Then they were filled with hatred and something very close to... laughter.
“I think we’ll see how long that stands, when she hears about the Slayers you’ve killed.”
TBC